Bookie Deepak Aggarwal’s threats once led to a 29-year-old’s demise

Deepak Aggarwal, a blacklisted bookie from India, has grabbed the headlines of late after the International Cricket Council (ICC) slapped Shakib Al Hasan with a backdated two-year suspension. The bookie contacted the Bangladesh cricketer as many as three times, one instance of which came during the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) where Shakib played for SRH.

A WhatsApp conversation between Shakib and the bookie lately came to the fore. The messages included a number of deleted messages and Shakib confirmed that they were regarding requests from Mr Aggarwal about inside information. The all-rounder didn’t report any of the three occurring to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit and that led to him  breaching the ICC’s Code of Conduct.

Cricket Punter hangs himself after Deepak Aggarwal’s threats

Meanwhile, another incident has surfaced where Deepak Aggarwal’s threats led to the death of Vijay Kumar, a 29-year-old punter, a few years ago. Kumar, a cricket punter, hanged himself at his house in Ghantaghar area of Udaipur. Before he committed suicide, he left a note where he claimed that he had borrowed a sum of INR 5 lakh after which he went into depression and took the step of ending his life.

“He left a suicide note in which he claimed that he had borrowed Rs 5 lakh from a bookie and went into depression after that. He had accused one bookie identified as Deepak Agrawal of coercing him into placing bets. In the note, he requested authorities to get the money back to his family from Deepak,” Tejraj Singh, additional SP of Udaipur City had told the Times of India (TOI).

After his link with Shakib, Aggarwal has been blacklisted by the apex cricket board for his repeated attempts in franchise cricket leagues, including international games. Back in April 2017, the Indian police detained him in Raigarh along with a couple of his supporters. Deepak was put behind the bars, but the jolt didn’t teach him a lesson and he continued with his spot-fixing.

As far as Shakib is concerned, he did not act upon any of the approaches from Aggarwal, neither did he receive any money from the bookie. The Jessore-born Shakib can now return to the field after his ban ends on October 29, 2020.

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